Mechanical ware washing machines including dishwashers have been common in the institutional and household environments for many years. Such automatic ware washing machines clean dishes using two or more cycles which can include initially a wash cycle followed by a rinse cycle. Such automatic ware washing machines can also utilize other cycles, for example, a soak cycle, a pre-wash cycle, a scrape cycle, additional wash cycles, additional rinse cycles, a sanitizing cycle, and/or a drying cycle. Any of these cycles can be repeated, if desired and additional cycles can be used. Detergents and/or sanitizers are conventionally used in these ware washing applications to provide cleaning, disinfecting and/or sanitizing. Dishmachines can remove soil by using a combination of various detergents and/or sanitizers, temperatures, and/or mechanical action from water. In some aspects where a sanitizer is not employed, water is heated to provide sanitization of the ware, placing an increase utility demand on a ware wash machine.
Alkali metal carbonate and/or hydroxide detergents are commonly employed in ware washing machines and often referred to as ash detergents and caustic detergents, respectively. Detergent formulations employing alkali metal carbonates and/or alkali metal hydroxides are known to provide effective detergency. Formulations can vary greatly in their degree of corrosiveness, acceptance as consumer-friendly and/or environmentally-friendly products, as well as other detergent characteristics. Generally, as the alkalinity of these detergent compositions increase, the difficulty in preventing hard water scale accumulation also increases. A need therefore exists for detergent compositions that minimize and/or eliminate hard water scale accumulation within systems employing these detergents. In addition, as the use of phosphorous raw materials in detergents becomes more heavily regulated, industries are seeking alternative ways to control hard water scale formation associated with highly alkaline detergents. However, many non-phosphate replacement formulations result in heavy soil accumulation on hard surfaces such as glass, plastic, rubber and/or metal surfaces. Therefore, there is a need for detergent compositions, such as ware washing compositions, to provide adequate cleaning performance while minimizing soil redeposition on a hard surfaces in contact with the detergent compositions.
In addition to detergents and sanitizers, rinse aids are also conventionally used in ware washing applications to promote drying and to prevent the formation of spots on the ware being washed. In order to reduce the formation of spotting, rinse aids have commonly been added to water to form an aqueous rinse that is sprayed on the ware after cleaning is complete. A number of rinse aids are currently known, each having certain advantages and disadvantages, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,592,774, 3,625,901, 3,941,713, 4,005,024, 4,187,121, 4,147,559, 4,624,713. In addition, further disclosure of rinse additives including nonionic surfactants is disclosed in Schick, “Nonionic Surfactants”, published by Marcel Dekker, and John L. Wilson, Soap and Chemical Specialties, February 1958, pp. 48-52 and 170-171, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
There further remains an ongoing need for improved efficacy of dishmachines, including maximizing the efficacy of the combination of detergents, sanitizers and rinse aids formulations. In addition, there is a desire among consumers, both institutional and household, to reduce the utilities required for operating such dishmachines. It is against this background that the present disclosure is made to develop a method of ware washing providing concentrated detergent compositions with a sanitizing rinse aid.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the claimed invention to develop concentrated detergent compositions suitable for combined use with a sanitizing rinse aid composition to provide methods of using the same for ware washing applications to provide desired cleaning, sanitizing and rinsing performance.
A further object of the invention is to provide a concentrated PSO adduct containing detergent composition suitable for use in ware washing applications with a non-chlorine based sanitizing system containing peroxycarboxylic acids with non-foaming rinse additives for ware washing and other applications.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.